


Prison des Peuples

by pachemuchka



Series: Sisyphus Observed [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Historical Hetalia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24618415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pachemuchka/pseuds/pachemuchka
Summary: It's the summer of 1891, and Russia needs creditors after their German allies have shut their wallet. It just so happens that France has money and a painful lack of allies. Ideological differences abound.
Series: Sisyphus Observed [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1779892
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	Prison des Peuples

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I'm Mittens and this is my first time posting on AO3. This is the first in a series of vignettes exploring the century of Russian history through the 1890s-1990s. I hope you enjoy! :)

_August, 1891; St. Petersburg, Russia_

“Yours is a beautiful city, _Russie_. I am sorry it’s taken me so long to see it.”

France sat on one end of the magnificent table, his arm slung over the back of the equally magnificent chair. Russia sat at the opposite end, his face partially obscured by a porcelain teacup. It looked all too small in his hand, France thought. Seconds passed. He waited for a response, but received none. He cleared his throat and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

“Ah—I suppose you and yours aren’t fond of pleasantries. Understood. Admirable, even. Aren’t there so many of ours who simply use them to hide their true—”

“What do you hope to gain from an alliance between the two of us, France?”

“… intentions.”

Russia interrupted him, and France cast his eyes downwards. He could feel the other staring at him, his iris gaze searing the back of his neck. France’s discomfort was slathered in a layer of politeness, like an unattractive visage smeared with layers of rouge. But somehow, France felt it still not enough. He exhaled, folding his hands before him.

“… we both need allies.”

Russia uncrossed his legs with a haughty click of his boot against the floor. He leaned back in his chair to the sound of creaking.

“ _I_ do not need anything. _You_ do. I will be comfortable whether or not anything transpires here. You, however, will still be an isolated nation.”

France pinched between his eyes and let out an audible sigh through the nose. He squared his shoulders and attempted to look as formidable as one could, but there still remained a note of desperation in his voice when he spoke. If appealing to practicality wouldn’t work, perhaps he could appeal to Russia’s personal side.

“Please, Ivan, our friendship—”

“ _Don’t_ call me that,” There was not so much as a hint of sympathy or warmth in Russia’s voice as he corrected France. He continued tersely, “and it’s for your convenience that I’ll remind you that our ‘friendship’ extends as far as your ambitions, France. You have attacked me twice in the last century. You've never been a loyal friend to anyone. An appeal to my goodwill won’t end in your favor.”

 _What goodwill?_ France thought to himself privately. _You have all the goodwill of a shackle wearing away at a man’s ankle._ But France had what Russia didn't—tact. To insult another nation at a meeting of friendship wasn’t exactly the way to earn oneself an alliance. However, France was desperate, Russia was not. He had a steadfast ally in Germany, a nation whom Russia could certainly relate to better than himself. They were both authoritarian bastards content to pluck liberty up like a weed whenever they found it. France couldn’t subdue his tongue entirely.

“Perhaps I ought to appeal to your purse then, which is, if I have heard correctly, empty?” Russia said nothing once again, but France could see his knuckles gripping the arm of his chair just tight enough to where they grew a shade whiter. He continued, “You’ve already asked the Germans for assistance and they told you no. That is why I’m here, _non_?”

A pregnant pause passed before Russia tapped on the arm of his chair. Russia retorted, always defensive,

“Money may not be easy to come by, but it is certainly easier than the trust of a continent. Do you know how I know I am your absolute, utter last resort, France?”

This time, France didn’t answer. He was the one staring now, levelly, coldly.

“Your republican presses call me a tyrant. The prison warden of Europe.”

“Russia, let’s not do this—"

“Do you agree with them?”

“Russia—”

“Answer me, France.”

France shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The subject of their… ideological differences had been the one he had hoped to avoid. It seemed Russia was intent on not letting him do so.

“… if you don’t give your people something, Russia, they will take it all. I should know.”

“Is that right?”

“Even if you allowed only the slightest of reforms, Russia—Ivan—”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“—you would still hold the strictest line of us all.”

“You said you should know of this, France, but clearly you don’t know enough. Give them an inch and they’ll demand a mile at gunpoint… or maybe at the edge of a blade.”

France’s hand drifted to his neck defensively and his brows furrowed.

“… I believe it was a bomb in your case, Russia, if my memory serves me right.”

“Don't you dare lecture me, France. You’ve oscillated between monarchy and republic for a century. You can't even decide what you want for yourself, you're in no position to advise others.”

“I’m only saying… my king met _Madame la Mort_ at the end of a blade. It was swift, clean, legal.”

“Your definition of legality is certainly loose.”

“Your Tsar was picked up in pieces, your people—”

“Those _criminals_ were not my people. They were anarchist terrorists.”

“But they were yours. ‘Terrorist’ isn't a nationality, my dear.”

This time, Russia slammed his fist on the the table and stood up so swiftly that his chair knocked backwards onto the floor. He splayed his hands over its decorated surface while he shouted at the other.

“They weren't! Real Russians love their God and their Tsar, and they can find the former within the latter! Such filth would have had no voice had Alexander not given them one.”

“Then filth constitutes the blood in your veins, Russia. They're your beating heart whether you like it or not.”

Their roles had reversed. Now, France was the one who was calm and collected while Russia reckoned with himself. Oh, he’d never say that, but France knew. Deny, deny it all to cover up the fact that you're thinking about it. He’d done it enough to know what it looked like. Russia’s nostrils flared, his hands balled into fists and he glared down at them. France continued,

“But be assured, Russia, I did not want this conversation. I came to you with the knowledge that in exchange for your mere word, I will give you money which you will use to build trains to carry your citizens off to labor camps. But it's none of my business what you do with your money or your people. However, they _are_ yours whether you admit to it or not. I am not here to tell you that you are wrong. I seek only your word that in the event of a conflict, we will fight on the same side. Does your word hold value?”

Russia's gaze stayed down. He had no choice. It was funny, France thought, the murderer of freedom of choice irritated by choicelessness. France shrugged though and continued with a note of humor in his voice,

“Just think of it this way. If you're lucky, my government will collapse again and you'll be free to renege on your promise. You said it yourself, I am fickle and will admit to that.”

Although still clearly miffed, Russia let out a dry laugh through his nose. He pulled his chair up and sank back in it, nodded a bit, then didn't look up when he spoke.

“You have my word.”

Now France rose to clap the other on the shoulder, wearing a victorious smile.

“Excellent, _mon ami_! Now, Ivan, we have paperwork to sign, don't we?”

“Yes. But I still don't want you calling me that.”

###### Notes:

###### 

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. By 1891, German efforts to isolate France had been largely successful, making the latter desperate for alliances. Russia, though an unlikely choice, was France's only real shot at a diplomatic breakthrough.  
> 2\. A Franco-Russian alliance was unlikely mostly due to stark governmental differences. The French Republic was, well, a republic, and the Russian Empire was the most reactionary and conservative autocracy in Europe. Russo-French relations had been a roller-coaster over the past century, to say the least. Occasionally friendly to France as a kingdom, but a French empire threatened its own ambitions. It was downright hostile to republican France. Here, Ivan is referring to the invasion of 1812 and the Crimean War.  
> 3\. Russian policy had been very friendly towards Germany by the mid-1860s after the French had criticized Russian conduct in Poland. This lasted until the 1890s, when Germany stopped lending money out to the Russians, who weren't exactly reliable in paying back their loans. French banks were more than happy to oblige in exchange for diplomatic ties. This allowed Russia to finance its large-scale port and railroad projects of the decade. The Trans-Siberian Railway is one famous example.  
> 4\. "The prison warden of Europe." A bit of a liberty, in actuality Russia was referred to as a "prisonhouse of nations" most famously by Lenin in 1914. The notion of Russia as a prison, however, is derived from the Marquis de Custine's travel journals after visiting Russia several decades prior.  
> 5\. "At the edge of a blade." The guillotine, French Revolution. The specter of the French Revolution still loomed large in Europe, even a century later.  
> 6\. "I believe it was a bomb in your case," a reference to the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, who was killed with a bomb by a member of Narodnaya Volya, or the People's Will in 1881. Alexander II was a great reformist, and had been given the epithet "Tsar Liberator" for freeing the Russia's serfs. His assassination led to the rule of Alexander III, a hard-line reactionary who cracked down on any reform movements in the empire. Alexander II had been on the verge of granting Russia a constitution, something which his successor put an end to as soon as he came to power.  
> 7\. Regarding the labor camps, this wasn't just a Soviet phenomenon. The practice of Siberian labor camps had been employed by the Russian Empire for decades. They were often used to deal with political dissidents.  
> 8\. France really did go back and forth between monarchy and republic constantly throughout the nineteenth century. It wasn't taken for granted that the republic would last.  
> 9\. The result was not a military alliance yet, although France would've liked that, but a "consultative pact" where France and Russia would talk it out if another European nation aggressed. However, this pact did lay the foundation for the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894. Twenty years later, this would lead to France getting involved in WWI after Russia pledged to defend Serbia in the conflict.


End file.
